Subprime Auto Loans: the Next Shoe to Drop?

They check to see if they pay their phone bills? That's what they call "underwriting"? What a joke!

By now you're probably wondering how this whole subprime nightmare resurfaced just eight years after Wall Street blew up the financial system? Wasn't Dodd-Frank supposed to fix all that?

Sure, it was, but the powerful auto lobby in Washington managed to carve out a special exemption for themselves that allows them to shrug off the new reforms and continue the same risky behavior as before. That's why this auto-loan scam has morphed into a ginormous Hindenburg-like bubble that poses a looming threat to financial stability. It's because the big money guys twisted a few arms on Capital Hill and got what they wanted. Money talks. Here's more from the WSJ:

"Banks had $384 billion of auto loans on their books at the end of last year, but households had auto-loan balances of over $1 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. Indeed, Fitch Ratings warned last week that delinquencies of over 60 days on securities backed by subprime auto loans hit almost 5% in January. That is the highest since September 2009 and close to the record peak hit that same year.

"Rock-bottom interest rates and record-breaking car sales have combined to put auto lending into overdrive, making some skids inevitable. While those should be more than manageable for the banking system, individual firms that went too fast into the curve by lowering underwriting standards may have a rougher ride." ("Why Auto Lenders Are in for a Rougher Ride," Wall Street Journal)

You know what comes next, don't you? The delinquencies start piling up, the finance companies begin to creak and groan, the banks and other counterparties hastily sell off assets to try to stay afloat, and, finally, the Fed rides to the rescue with another batch of emergency loans to prevent the whole wobbly, over-leveraged system from crashing to earth.

Of course, we could just pass legislation that made it a criminal offense to intentionally issue loans to anyone who fails to meet strict, government-approved underwriting standards. But then we'd never have these excruciating economy-busting financial crises anymore.

And what fun would that be?